Cuomo Signs Order Protecting Small Businesses From Eviction and Foreclosure

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today signed the COVID-19 Emergency Protect Our Small Businesses Act of 2021 (S471A/A3207) establishing eviction and foreclosure protections for small businesses.

These new protections build-off of the Governor’s Executive Order and commercial eviction and foreclosure moratorium that has protected businesses in New York State from eviction or foreclosure since COVID-19 first arrived in New York in March 2020.

The legislation will initially apply to small businesses with under 50 employees that demonstrate a financial hardship, as well as small businesses with 10 or less units.

“New York has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect and strengthen our economy throughout the war on COVID, and it is critical that we continue to provide support as we ramp up our vaccination efforts across the state,” Governor Cuomo said. “By signing the COVID-19 Emergency Protect Our Small Business Act of 2021 we are strengthening the backbone of our economy – our small businesses that have faced unprecedented hardships – and this legislation will be instrumental in helping build New York’s economy back better than ever before.”

The Governor has reached an agreement with the Legislature to expand the protections in the original legislation to additional business owners and landlords suffering financial hardship.

When the new legislation is signed into law, the agreement will expand protections to small businesses with 100 or fewer employees, and to any business with 500 or fewer employees that was closed to in-person operations by executive order or department of health directive for two or more weeks between May 15, 2020 and May 1, 2021.